Are chip prices headed up?

[DrStrange]

I have noticed a shift in the ebay market for chips that make me think the market for chips might have bottomed.

* The general availablity of chips by the rack on ebay has diminished. You would be very hard pressed to quickly put together a playable set of many of the older chips at any price. Even chips that were commonly available six months or a year ago can be hard to find. I suspect it would take me years to replicate my ~3,000 outpost chip set and likely I'd spend a whole lot more than I paid the first time around.

* When chips in rack quantity do come on ebay they often sell at better than expected prices (well my obviously wrong expectations). For example here is a rack of 100 $1 PCA used primary chips sold for $112.50 on may 3rd with 6 bidders. That's almost triple the price we paid from The Chiproom. 100- $1 President Casino Paulson Poker Chips | eBay

* I see more auctions 'flipping' chips from the Chiproom and I see them sooner after the original sale. The prices might still be low by 2008 - 2009 standards but still higher than the bulk sale price from JIm at the Chiproom.

* I see bigger price changes in the less expensive chips like the $1 PCA primaries. There were two racks of Bahamia $1 chips that sold for $1.45 each a month ago (I'd have been bidding if I had seen them.) Bahamia ones can go as high as $2 each in quantity. 100 Bahamia Casino $1.00 Paulson Chips | eBay

All of this makes me think that the days of "cheap" chips might be coming to an end. Even the Chiproom is going to run out of bankrupt casinos someday (Say it isn't so. Please! )

I found only one 'bargin' this year - 300 CiC chips from the Americana in Aruba for 50 cents each. (and that was due to a seller's error posting the auction with a picture of a single chip rather than racks.) Last year I bought something like 5,000 chips. Maybe I have been spoiled thinking that a casino paulson chip should sell for a lot less than $1 each. You can find old threads where the general advice was any paulson casino chip priced less than a buck was a deal.

So I would like to see what everyone else thinks about pricing and trends. Maybe I need to adjust my expectations?

DrStrange

PS I would be remiss not to thank the Chiproom for bringing so many chips to market at an affordable price point.

[abby99]

I hope so.

[Jeff]

All of the chips I've sold lately were 25% less than I payed for them.

[jldecarlo]

Originally Posted by Jeff

All of the chips I've sold lately were 25% less than I payed for them.

Don't feel like the only one. Maybe we've seen the bottom.

L

[jbutler16]

Originally Posted by DrStrange

Maybe I have been spoiled thinking that a casino paulson chip should sell for a lot less than $1 each. You can find old threads where the general advice was any paulson casino chip priced less than a buck was a deal.

i definitely think this is the case. there were some very nice sub-$1 paulsons to be had for a long time (and still are if you catch the chip room sales, of course), but i expect to pay $1-$1.20 for desirable chips even if i the market might seem flooded with them. the link you posted to the PCA $1s is the perfect example.

[Jhoov2412]

You might be right about chip prices going up, check out the auction link for the pointe after $25's and see what they just went for. I think we are about to see everyone who bought those list them pretty soon. I thought I was over bidding for them when I bid $65. Oh and if you need Bahamia $1's I have a wts listed with 2 racks.

[catalyzeme]

I'm just now getting interested in poker chips and I'm finding it both prohibitively expensive and difficult to put together any kind of casino set. I have some China clays that I really like, and I think I'm going to get another set of those for some variety in my home games, but after that it will probably be Paulson Nationals that I will try to build up. Too difficult to do casino chips right now. Maybe in a few years, providing they don't become impossible to find.

[TXGoodfella]

Yep Strange, the days of great chip deals on ebay are done. Like most CT'ers I'm sure, I check the bay everyday and I'm just not seeing em anymore. Luckily we have Jim. I'd imagine complete casino sets will be worth much more in the future if the market continues on like this.

[bergs]

A lot of the chips that had been around and were commonly available 2 years ago have dried up - PNY, Ritz (somewhat), etc. I think the supply aide for already released chips is dwindling because some people are buying and holding / using them, and the flippers are trying to make a buck.

[dennis63]

We can only hope.

I'm glad The Chiproom made some nice casino Paulsons available.

At the same time, I think selling heavily used and abused real casino chips very cheaply brought down prices across the market.